The invention relates generally to free weight exercise equipment, and more particularly to an improved self-spotting bench press system.
The use the barbells for conditioning and enhancement of the body's muscular tone is widely practiced by a variety of people. Most common weight training is executed with a spotter, that is, someone who can assist the lifter when they become fatigued, are having difficulty, or are about to drop the weight. Style, communication, consistency and reaction time are all factors that vary depending on the spotter being used at any given time. Bench pressing, however, without a spotter can be dangerous. Without someone to grab the barbell and prevent the barbell from dropping on the weightlifter there is a significant danger of serious injury due to fatigue or improper technique. This danger exists in a wide variety of situations, from private to professional weightlifting.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,726 is directed to a safety device for use in conjunction with bench press exercise equipment, wherein a pair of arms controllable by the exerciser may be elevated into engagement with a barbell to raise it clear of the exerciser before the barbell can seriously injuring him should he be unable, due to fatigue, to raise the barbell to its normal support panel off the bench. The elevating mechanism may be a power operated jack or counterweights normally controlled by a jack. This invention enables the user by activation of an electric switch to raise and lower the structure which acts as a safety support for the barbells. A pair of limit switches may be engaged by an adjustable stop assembly to stop the arm once a predetermined elevation is reached. The adjustable stop assembly also acts as a ratchet to prevent inadvertent lowering of the arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,072 is directed to a free weightlifting apparatus adapted for return of a free-weight barbell to a stationary barbell support rack without other ancillary assistance for a lone exerciser participating in a variety of free weightlifting exercises. The frame is raised and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder which is powered by an electrically driven pump. Electrical switches on the support rack are activated when the free-weight barbell depresses the sleeves, and the electrical switches are deactivated when the barbell automatically rolls off the sleeve and repositions itself on the support rack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,506 is directed to a weightlifting station including a pair of guideposts for guiding a barbell assembly in a vertical direction. The barbell assembly includes a weight bar, a sleeve telescoped over the weight bar and stops attached to the sleeve with catch pins to restrain the stops in any one of three conditions of orientation. In one condition, the catch pins lock the stops in engagement with apertures in the posts, thereby preventing vertical movement of the bar from a selected vertical position. In another condition, the catch pins lock the stops in a position disengaged and remote from the apertures permitting the barbell assembly to slide vertically on the guide posts. In the third condition, a user may manually rotate the sleeve, throughout a small range limited by the catch pins from a position where the stops are fully engaged with the apertures, to a position where the stops are withdrawn from the apertures, thereby providing the user with a self stopping capability. In this invention there is no mechanism to pull up a support rack automatically to a fixed position to hold the barbells.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,746,379 is directed to a self stopping safety bench press comprising an adjustable bench and up-rights located on either side of the bench adjacent the lifters upper body. Lifting arms extend from the uprights into the barbells pathway and have the ability to slide up and down to contact the barbell and decrease the weight exerted on the exerciser. Hydraulic cylinders provide force to each lifting arm, which is depressed below the barbells path before use. When assistance is needed, the exerciser releases a hydraulic restrictor valve causing the arms to ascend removing a user determined amount of weight from the barbell while permitting the user to continue performing repetitions. A second restrictor valve can allow only upward movement should the exerciser fail. A third flow restrictor valve adjusts the rate of arm travel. An air charged hydraulic accumulator provides the hydraulic pressure to the cylinders. This invention provides no mechanism to lock the lifting arm in a position to hold the barbells in a predetermined fixed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,027 is directed to an automatic spotting weight machine used to support a weight bar and create an escape opening after a failed bench press lift. In one of the embodiments, a foot release mechanism and mechanical knuckle work in conjunction to drop the head end of the weight bench so that the weights are resting on a pair of support bars. In one embodiment, there is a disclosed means of controlling the drop of the bench portion of the weight machine so that it is lowered gently.
It would therefore be desirable for an self-spotting safety bench press that assists in lifting barbells and automatically hold them in place without user assistance and without the use of electrical or hydraulic motor means.